Baby O

Congratulations go out to my friend/college roommate, LSM, and her husband PJM on their beautiful new daughter, Baby O! After years of being childless and trying to adopt a Down's Syndrome baby, they were blessed on May 17 to bring home Baby O from the NICU.  You can follow their family journey at Ups and Downs of O.

In Memoriam

Teresa

Did you ever have a friend who was so much more than a friend? A friend who had a profound influence on your worldview and way of life? Teresa was such a friend. Although she and her family moved to a different state a couple of years ago, and we didn't keep in close contact, I prayed for her every day. Because Teresa battled breast cancer for the last five years. On Monday,  she lost the battle. I continue to pray, but mostly for her husband and four young children. 

Teresa changed our way of life; we never would have considered homeschooling until I met her, and my Catholic faith has grown much deeper through her example. Never one to hang back from reaching out to people,  Teresa called me several years ago, asking if I'd like to join a prayer group she was starting at our parish. We didn't know each other, but she had seen me at Mass, and wanted to invite me. I often looked to her for spiritual guidance, and just to have fun. She had

an amazing sense of humor and fun-loving spirit, even while living with cancer. May God grant her eternal rest, and I know she will be interceding for me and for many others.

On a lighter note!

Thanks to Ruth at Just Another Day in Paradise, who put this funny video on her blog. I wanted to share it with you. Tim Hawkins performs a lot of other

hilarious songs, but since we have a family member who works at Chick Fil A, this really tickled us.

Barb

Blogging has been on the back burner for some time now for me. In fact, I haven't done much since St. Patrick's Day. Part of the reason is the ongoing struggle within myself as to how much information to make "public". Our family recently came through an intensely personal and painful situation in dealing with the death of my mother-in-law, Barb. 

We found out the day after St. Patrick's Day that she was ill and in the hospital. Over the next few days, we learned that she had an aggressive liver cancer, and very little kidney function. Jim and 

I spent much of our time at the hospital for the next week and a half, along with Jim's stepdad, and sister, and brothers, all of us aware that nothing could be done. Two weeks to the day after she

was admitted to the hospital, Barb passed away. We had known of her illness for 13 days.

It's so hard to put into words what Barb meant to us. The best I can do is to share what my mom

wrote on her blog:

Barb

I lost a lovely friend tonight and we lost a part of our wonderful Ft. Wayne family. Her name was Barbara Shaffer and she was elegant, generous and fun. Elegant because she always seemed to know what was tasteful but not stuffy. Generous with her wit and inclusion. She entertained people who needed entertaining. Barb was fun with a beautiful smile and good natured zing. I will think of her every time I look into my Ft. Wayne grandchildren's eyes . They are so like hers. She was their grandmother too.